White House Down follows in the footsteps of another very similar film, Olympus Has Fallen, released in March, in which the White House is attacked by North Korean terrorists. And it’s not the first time the film’s director, Roland Emmerich, has blown up the US president’s residence on screen: he did this famously in his 1996 film, Independence Day.

White House Down is no great work of art, says Tom Brook – it’s an attempt to entertain audiences with action and suspense, with an eye on the box office. But why do audiences in the US and abroad enjoy seeing America’s national landmarks destroyed?